“For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.” (1 Peter 2:16) True freedom is only possible by staying connected to the one who sets us free. Staying true to the one who sets us free means being HIS…

Psalm 36 seems to be an appropriate read on this Good Friday. “You give them drink from the river of your delights.” I reflected on some observations regarding those words. GOD PROVIDES. He provides love (Psalm 36:7), protection and refuge (v7b), food of abundance (v8a), light (v9), and…

HAPPY NEW YEAR! So, here is my verse for 2017—-20:17 in the book of Luke—– Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone’?” Three things come to mind for me in that…

I was reading Exodus 9:5-6a. “And the Lord set a time, saying, ‘Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.’ And the next day the Lord did this thing.” There are a lot of uncertainties in the world, but one thing is for sure. When God says he…

Here are some great words of wisdom for the day—–Proverbs 12:15—-“The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.” A friend and I were standing outside the church looking at possible sources of some water issues. He showed me a sink hole that…

WORDS….they matter. My YouVersion Bible app verse of the day is Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” That reminded me of one of my favorite verses in the Bible, Ephesians 4:29, “Let no…

I’ve really been enjoying the church prayer path, and I was thinking about the joy of staying on the path and being careful to not get off track into the thistles and nettles and poison ivy. I was thinking about borders as I read Psalm 147. “He strengthens the bars…

Boy does it ever rain in Iowa. Sometimes a lot. It did this week. So I was reading in Isaiah 55 this morning starting with verse 10…. “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making…

It was really windy in Iowa yesterday. It was also garbage day in our end of town. So, the journey into work was like driving through an obstacle course, trying to avoid the garbage and garbage cans blowing around in the road. Any obstacles you are driving through today?…

“Let’s go deeper together.” That is the kind of thing an alongsider coach might say. Scuba diving isn’t designed for the surface. Neither is life. An alongsider coaching relationship can help you go places you never thought you could go. Alongsiding can help you learn things you didn’t know you…